Hailey’s Blog

I think the easiest way to do a weekend re-cap is in pictures – so hope you enjoy!

I told dad not to be cheesy, so I got this….and that led to the next shot…and we weren’t even drunk yet!

The next few are from Friday night – dancin’ w/ Michael and then after party – Hicks and BoDean

Saturday we got up after about 3 hours of sleep and were in the parade:

Then were back at 11th Street for Jake!  

Me & my momma, Me & SAM!, Me dancin’ with Deb, Me & Jen, Dancin’ w/ Michael, Shot Time, & SOMETHING was funny!

The guys: Me & Rick, Me & Jenkins, Jake, Snuffy & Rockstar

Sunday was EPIC at Arkey Blue’s

The Crowd, Me & Terry, Me & My Momma again

Then back to 11th Street….

Helen and Me, The Bar, Snuffy and Me

We had a fabulous time, but Memorial Day weekend is not just a weekend of going out – it’s a time to remember the sacrifices our troops pay for our freedom.  RIP Ssg. Pugh.  Love you, miss you, and think about you every day!  My #1 hero forever! 

Definitely missing the trip when I look at pics and articles!!

http://aglifesciences.tamu.edu/news/5-2010-asiantrip.php

AND…

We made one of the “featured banners” on the COALS (College of Agriculture and Life Sciences) homepage

http://aglifesciences.tamu.edu/

I’m getting an itch to go back….Who’s in??

*Hugs*

Here are some pics of the babies!

Sleeping babies

The babies love Vera just as much as I do!

Carrie got hot at my parents house!

Samantha and Carrie playing

Hangin’ out in their pen

*Hugs*

Ok, so I officially suck at blogging!  I just looked and it’s been almost 3 months since I’ve posted anything!  Things here have been going well, just crazy busy!  I’ve had a few weeks off from school, but in that time I’ve had 7 of the most adorable basset hound puppies taking up my energy.  The babies are now 7.5 weeks old and are ready for new homes – they’re AKC registered, so if you know of anyone looking for a puppy, send ‘em my way!

I start a minimester tomorrow in College Station.  It’s going to be a bit crazy driving back and forth from Austin to CS every day, but it’ll be worth it to knock 3 hours out in 9 days!  I’m actually really excited to be on campus for a class finally!  I finish this class on the 28th, and then start another 10 week Homeland Security class on June 1.  Finish up with that August 11, then start the Fall semester on August 30 with 6 hours.  Yup, I’m killing myself here, but that’s ok…if I can pull this off, I’ll be able to apply for my Aggie ring in December and will be getting it in April!!!  WHOOP! 

Right now I’m just trying to keep my head above water and stare down the calendar to August 11 and a vacation SOMEWHERE in my short break…any suggestions?!?!    Hope everyone has been doing well…time for me to  read 4 chapters before my class tomorrow!

*Hugs*

And, more importantly for me…it’s snowing in Leander! Here are some pictures from today! Love it!

When I left for work around 7:40 this morning this is what it looked like:

Me at work around 10:30 am:

Coming into my neighborhood around 1:30 pm:

Front of my house:

My funky-shaped snowman!

Tegan’s footprints

Backyard:

Kaluah and Peppermint Schnapps…with hot Chocolate, of course!

Tegs really doesn’t know what she thinks about all this snow…she doesn’t like cold feet!

And now, it’s 4:10…and it’s STILL snowing! Loving today, cuddled up under my electric blanket, and writing a paper for school. Thank you work, for letting us off early!

*Hugs*

I’ve been meaning to get pictures posted from my FABULOUS trip to Asia – but haven’t. After I got home, I started classes two days later, and let me just say…this semester is going to kick my A.S.S. Seriously. Then, to top it off, I got sick. I went to the nurse practitioner TWICE last week, and all she told me was that it was allergies, and she gave me some prescription cough stuff. Well, I know this wasn’t the smartest thing I’ve ever done, but…. I went to the Grimes Co. BBQ cookoff last weekend. BF was cooking, so I HAD to go be supportive, right?!? Well, stupid. I had fun…or as much fun as a sick person can have…and then woke up on Sunday with a HORRIBLE “crick in my neck.” Well, after this crick not getting better after 3 days (which means 3 days of NO sleep, b/c no matter what I did, I couldn’t make the pain stop…not even vicodin…) I drug myself up to Urgent Care last night. Verdict – severe ear infection – no crick in my neck. I now have a z-pack (which is what I TOLD the nurse last week that I needed), and hopefully it’ll get me back in tip-top shape very soon! Once that happens, I promise to do a trip update with pics and all! The worst part of this is that I’ve had SO many assignments for class that I’ve had to turn in knowing that they’re not my best work because I just haven’t even been able to process my readings Time to redeem myself as soon as I get back to feeling better!!!!

Hope everyone is having a great 2010 so far – can you believe it’s FEB?!?!

*Hugs*

Blog friends – when we met up way back when in December, I mentioned to y’all that a group of my girlfriends were starting a book club. Well, our first meeting is going to be tomorrow – and we’ll decide on a book to read and just get to know each other then. If you’re interested and want to know the specifics on the location and all that jazz, send me a comment and I’ll message it to you

*Hugs*

A few of my other blogger friends have posted their decade reviews – so I decided I’d steal the idea from them    Thanks Vicki and Christine!

So…here goes.  Below you will find what the past 10 years has brought for me.

-  High School Graduation
-  Beginning of college at SWT
-  Strutters at SWT and the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in NYC (and the Kaufmann’s parade in Philly)
-  Met some of my best friends in the world at SWT…Eat ‘Em Up Cats!
-  Travelled to Costa Rica with the National FFA Association
-  Took a random trip to Camp Lejune, NC to see some crazy boy, lol
-  College graduation
-  My first REAL job
-  Got married
-  Survived then-hubby’s deployment to Iraq
-  Lost one of our best friends during said deployment
-  Bought 1st house
-  Got divorced…even though ex and I survived the deployment, our marriage did NOT (I kept the house, though:)  )
-  Gained about 40 lbs during the deployment and divorce….
-  Became “Aunt Hailey” or “Hai” to TONS of new little ones (thanks friends for keeping me in supply with babies!)
-  Lost most of the weight I had gained, and still working on getting off the rest!
-  Started dating bf – and even though it’s controversial, I’m happy again and I’m ME again – and that’s all I care about!
- Started Grad School at A&M…I’m finally an Aggie almost a decade after graduating from HS!

I can’t believe the path the last 10 years took – but it’s been a great one, even with the curve balls along the way.  I’m sure the next 10 will be filled with even more curve balls, but also with more joy and laughter and happiness and I can’t wait for it!

Here’s to the 2000′s!

*Hugs*

I’m such a horrible blogger…but hey, it is what it is    The past couple of months brought about the end of the Aggie football season (and since I pulled our tickets for the t.u. game, we had AMAZING seats…I’ll post some pics later), finals, the end of deer season, and now…the end of a decade is upon us!  In just two short days it will be 2010, and I’ll be on my way to Asia!   Since I haven’t blogged in so long, I’ll just do a quick recap of the past two months….

One of my old work besties, Rena, has been in town from Bahrain, so we got together for a couple of happy hours – one with her fabulous mom, and another with a great group of blog girls.  I’m so excited I got to meet Jill, Vicki, Christine,  Jenniloo, jmo, Selina, Jessica, Kelly, Jennifer, and Sarah.  Jill got a pic of the whole group – you can see it here.  It was really fun to hang out with a big group of girls…only problem with it is that when you sit at a rectangular table, it makes it hard to talk to everyone.  Just means we’ll have to do it again!    I’m so glad I got to see Rena before she heads back home…after my trip to Asia, the goal is to start saving for a trip to Bahrain!!!

Thanksgiving came, and as I mentioned before, Lance and I had AWESOME tickets for the A&M/t.u. game on Thanksgiving night.  I’ve never been in a stadium as loud as Kyle Field was that night – between it being a huge rivalry game, as well as the 10th anniversary of Bonfire falling, the Aggie Spirit was definitely felt that night.  On Friday, I met mom and dad up at our deer lease after I ran by Old Navy and did about 15 minutes of Black Friday shopping

The next two weeks were spent trying to get over a cold and get everything turned in for my finals.  My last paper and final were due on the 11th, and I got everything turned in and was able to relax for one of my good friends weddings on the 12th!  Brooke and Tim had a beautiful ceremony overlooking Lake Travis (which, unfortunately, still needs a good bit of rain to come along for it to recover), and a beautiful reception to follow.   I got home and fell straight to sleep while he stayed up and watched the last round of the NFRs.  So glad I have DVR!

My parents came to my house and delivered my Christmas present a couple of days early – a new china cabinet/hutch and wine rack/bar!  I LOVE it!  We left my house and went to our deer lease on the 23rd to spend Christmas there…and we got a WHITE CHRISTMAS!  For this Texas girl, that’s a first!  I’ve had white Christmas’ before…but NEVER in Texas!  It was so much fun, but I’ve been trying to kick a cold before I leave on my trip.  We left the lease on the 26th and had our family Christmas with my grandparents, aunts, and uncles on the 27th.   

Monday night one of my besties, Kim, came over to visit – she lives in Vermont now (unfortunately), so we don’t get to see each other all that often, so it was SOOOO good to catch up!   (A trip to Vermont/New Hampshire/Boston needs to be in the works…but that falls into the same category as my trip to Bahrain…I have to get back to saving after this Asia trip!) 

Last night I got all of my things packed for the trip, and after work today I’ll be heading to Anderson to hang out for New Year’s.  We have no plans of going out, which is perfectly ok with me – there’s no way I want to be hungover on that flight!  I’ve done that once before in my life, and it was the absolute most horrible flight I’ve ever been on.  Never. Again.   

Well, that’s pretty much my little life in a nutshell since November.  Things are going well on the work front, on the boy front, and just in general.  I get back from Asia on the 17th, and classes start on the 19th, so I’ll be gearing back up to study as soon as I get home.  Ahh…grad school….  

I hope everyone has a safe and very Happy New Year!!! 

*Hugs*

I had been fretting about asking my boss to take two weeks off in January for the Asia trip.  I’ve only been with the Agency for a year at the end of this month, so I didn’t know how it would look if I asked to take off for two solid weeks.  I was expecting him to talk about workload, making sure things were complete before I go, etc…if he even said yes at all!  Well, here’s how the conversation went:

Me:  I have a question for you…what is the policy for taking extended vacations?
Boss:  How long of an extended vacation?
Me:  Two weeks.
Boss:  That’s fine, no problem.

….end of conversation.  Well, I told him when I’d be taking off when we were just chatting, and what it was for, but that had no impact on his decision.  at.all.  I was expecting to have to sell him that this was a great school opportunity and it would be awesome if I could take off to go…nope, he didn’t care.  As much as I don’t enjoy sitting at a computer all day for my job, the benefits of the job outweigh the negatives here, that’s for sure!  When I was consulting, there was NO WAY I would have been able to take off and do this trip…wait, back up….there’s no way I would even be in grad school.  So, I just have to say, thank you State job for allowing me the time to do what I want with my life!

So, I booked my flight yesterday (I found it on expedia.com for $150 less than the travel agent’s price!!!!), and now I just have to renew my passport when I get back from Mexico next week.  So. Excited.  Mexico for Shannon and Joel’s wedding next weekend, then Asia on Jan 1.  Having parents and a boyfriend that support me in spending the money and jetting off to some places that might not be the safest (ie. crime, cobras, and vipers…), really is amazing!  Life is fabulous!!!!

*Hugs*